Introduction

Who I Am

Hi, I am a LoL player who has been playing for just about 1.5 years now. Ranged ADCs are my favourite type of champs to play, and Caitlyn is the champion I am best with. This guide shows the Caitlyn Build that I personally favor after a year of gameplay with her.

What is Caitlyn?
Caitlyn is a ranged AD Carry, one who deals high amount of damage from a distance and thus carrying the team.

Pros
-Superior Range (650) compared to other ADCs, allowing for easy poking.
-Has a very effective and utilisable skill set, with high harass and zoning power.
-Ultimate can help secure kills or force enemies off the lane.

Seals
For seals, you ALWAYS go with 9 Greater Seal of Armor. Laning against an AD Carry will require you to have armor to absorb the physical damage.

Glyphs
For glyphs, you should ALWAYS go with Magic Resist. Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist is usually taken, because you are laning against an AD carry, so the magic resist is not needed until the laning phase is over. However, if you feel that supports are dealing too much magic damage to you, you can always go with Greater Glyph of Magic Resist.

Masteries

Masteries

1/1

3/4

4/1

3/1

1/1

2/1

2/3

1/3

3/1

1/3

4/2

3/1

1/3

1/3

Offense(21)
These offense runes are usually the same for every AD carry, except maybe between Fury and Sorcery . All damage-increasing options are taken.

Defense(9)
Defense runes are taken over Utility, as it has a more prominent effect in the lane. Hardiness gives you that slight amount of extra armor, Durability gives you a long-term health increase, and Veteran's Scars provides you with +30 HP which may seem little, but during the early game really makes a difference.

Summoner Spells

Typical Spells

Flash is an essential spell for almost all champions in League of Legends. It helps you to escape, to close up gaps, to secure kills, and to bait/juke the enemy.

Barrier is a good choice on Caitlyn, especially if the enemy's AD Carry has an offensive Ult ability with range (eg. Ace in the Hole, Bullet Time or Enchanted Crystal Arrow). You can waste the enemy's ult by activating barrier at the right time. I tend to prefer Barrier over Ignite, especially if the enemy has no potent way of killing you once you have retreated behind your turret. In short, it WILL save your life many times. Barrier 'baiting' is another good strategy. If your hp is low in lane, but not too low (ie. 150-300), you can bait the enemy ADC if he is also low on health. Immediately engage and pop Barrier. The enemy will assume he will be able to kill you, but Barrier will save you and if he is low enough, you secure the kill. However, know the situation to use this tactic. If his support is there, obviously you won't want to bait with Barrier.

Alternatives

Cleanse is a common spell and should be used when enemies have high CC skills, (eg. Amumu). In draft pick, when the enemy team has multiple high CC champions like but not limited to Amumu, Leona, Sona and Rammus, you will want to take Cleanse.

Ignite is another good choice on Caitlyn. Although late game all it does is just deal a little bit of damage, in the early game it can be useful for securing kills. However, Barrier will be better than Ignite a great deal, especially lategame. The amount of damage you can put out while Barrier saves you is definitely more than Ignite can.

Ghost should be used when you are below Level 12, and do not have Flash unlocked.

Headshot is Caitlyn's passive. Caitlyn gains stacks for every attack. On every 6th-8th stack depending on level, Caitlyn's next autoattack will deal 150% damage to a champion or 250% damage to a creep. Attacks in brush count as 2 stacks. This can be used in almost all situations, since the damage from Headshot can crit. For the early game, try to focus your headshots all onto enemy champions. In the later part of the game, when you have your critical items ( Infinity Edge, Phantom Dancer), your headshots will begin to do massive damage. It is best to try to stack it up before engaging a fight.

Tips

Stack Headshot on minions, and try to use the final hit on a champion. This is massive harassment for the enemy. But, this doesn't mean you should ALWAYS go for a headshot (eg. through a turret). Headshots can also be used for 'earlier' last hits on minions. In later games, if the situation permits, try attack from brush to charge your headshots in just 3 hits. In the jungle, attacking the creeps from a brush allow for a faster down time.

Q

Piltover Peacemaker is Caitlyn's Q skill. It is her main tool of harass and damage. Scaling with AD, it shoots a bullet that goes through enemies, dealing slightly less damage as it goes through. This, along with Headshot, can be used to dominate your lane and harass your enemy into oblivion. However, in the later game, Caitlyn's auto attacks become more powerful than Piltover Peacemaker, so by that point it should only be used for piercing through multiple enemies.

Tips

Piltover Peacemaker should be used to harass the enemy. When there are many minions at low hp and/or an enemy champion standing in a line behind them, try to aim your Piltover Peacemaker into the enemy, to poke them from a far distance. Sometimes, enemies will try to bait your shots so try to anticipate/predict where the enemy will go and shoot into that area. In the later part of the game, Piltover Peacemaker should only be used to hit multiple enemies, as Caitlyn's autoattacks will do more damage to enemies by that point.

W

Yordle Snap Trap is Caitlyn's W skill. It has many uses; for zoning enemies, to stall enemies or simply to immobilise them for a short time to unleash your damage. This skill is VERY useful if placed at the right spot. Also, it can be used to check brushes as it gives vision of the area for a second. It is usually maxed last, as Caitlyn only needs it at Level 1. (See trap placement section below)

Tips

Yordle Snap Trap should be used to zone the enemy, stop ganks, to simply trap or to stop an enemy from chasing. It can also be used to initiate teamfights if placed very well. For more details see Gameplay: Trap Usage chapter below

E

90 Caliber Net is Caitlyn's E. It is essentially another Flash that Caitlyn can use. It fires a net, knocking Caitlyn in the opposite direction the net was fired and slowing enemies caught in the net. It can be used to close gaps, to stall enemies and escape (by slowing them), to reach objectives faster (eg. netting over the Baron Nashor wall or Dragon wall) or to give yourself a quick boost. Very useful, and should be maxed first. It is maxed before Yordle Snap Trap as maxing it gives longer slow duration and damage.

Tips 90 Caliber Net has a main functionality of being a second Flash. It is used to escape, slow enemies, kite and to chase to secure kills. To escape, you can simply aim the net into one champion to slow him and get away. However, if there are multiple enemies you may consider baiting them to a dead-end wall (eg. Dragon or Baron Nashor) and netting over the wall as an insane juke. You can also launch 90 Caliber Net in the opposite direction to knock Caitlyn towards the enemy, to secure kills especially if Ace in the Hole is unavailable. For more information see Gameplay: Net Usage chapter below.

R

Ace in the Hole is Caitlyn's ulti. It targets the selected enemy champion, dealing high damage to the enemy. It has very high range, and can be used to bruise, kill or to force enemies off the lane. However, it requires good judgment, especially below Level 16 where Caitlyn's ult has a long cooldown. Knowledge on whether an enemy champion can potentially block the shot is also essential in making sure you do not waste Caitlyn's ult.

Tips

Ace in the Hole is a very beginner friendly ulti. It only requires you to select an enemy champion, no skill-aims required. Of course, this is usually only used to secure kills when an enemy is running away behind their turret. You should not waste Ace in the Hole if you are able to kill the enemy without using it. However, when you see that the support CAN indeed block the shot, you should rethink whether it is worth it (unless the support is low enough to be forced off the lane). Also, Ace in the Hole can sometimes turn a 1v1 that you are losing around. If you 1v1 an enemy and start losing, immediately use Ace in the Hole for massive damage output, then use 90 Caliber Net to slow him and start hitting away.

Items

Starters

Doran's Blade is an excellent starting item for Caitlyn. Coupled with Veteran's Scars , the health boost gives you the durability needed to survive the early game. It also has a small amount of lifesteal and provides 10AD. The way to go in most cases. It is acceptable to buy up to 2 Doran's blades if you are struggling/losing your lane.

B. F. Sword gives Caitlyn the well needed raw Attack Damage. It is also needed so she can build into Infinity Edge. When built earlier than the enemy ADC, you will start to see a huge spike in your autoattacks, Q and R.

Infinity Edge provides Caitlyn alot of AD, which benefits her. However, the main reason we choose Infinity Edge over The Bloodthirster at this point, is because of Infinity Edge's critical damage enhancement (+25% Crit rate and +50% Crit Damage). This, coupled with Headshot will make Caitlyn's headshots and critical strikes become insanely powerful as it stacks.

Phantom Dancer helps Caitlyn get extra attack speed, and amplifies the effects of Infinity Edge by adding extra crit rate to Caitlyn, Phantom Dancer is effective as it increases the chances of Caitlyn landing a critical strike, and allows her to attack faster, resulting in faster damage output and Headshot stacking. After getting this item, if the enemies are not insanely fed, you will see Caitlyn start to shine.

Mid/Late game

Last Whisper is an underappreciated and underused item. Many people think paying 2300g for it is not worth it. However, they are totally wrong. On ADCs, Last Whisper is necessary to pierce through armor, especially enemies who have high amounts of armor in their build (eg. Volibear, Garen, Darius). Even if the enemies do not have armor, they are most likely using Greater Seal of Armor.

Blade of the Ruined King is the next step in having damage against tankers with high HP. Providing %Life steal for sustain, and passively doing damage based on the enemy's HP, this item with Last Whisper will be powerful against high HP/armor enemies. The active also helps you catch up or run away from an enemy, or get some free damage off. When this item is completed, you have reached your full damage potential.

Guardian Angel is Caitlyn's last item. By the time you reach the last item, the game should have progressed very far (>35 min) and everyone or almost everyone should be Level 18. At this point, the respawn times are insane. Thus, Guardian Angel not only allows you a second chance and save you from waiting very long and potentially throwing the game, but also gives a generous Armor and Magic Resist boost.

Enchantments

Enchantment: Furor is a good enchantment for Caitlyn if her team's base isn't getting ripped apart. When winning the game, Furor allows for extra chasing power and to secure objectives faster.

Enchantment: Homeguard is the enchantment to go with if Caitlyn needs to desperately defend her base, or if the enemy has pushed further than you.

Statikk Shiv is a viable and good replacement for Phantom Dancer. Being 300g cheaper, it gives 10% less Attack speed and crit rate in exchange for a AOE passive that deals 100 damage (can crit) that chains to 4 enemies. While this item is good on ADCs like Miss Fortune who already have skills like Impure Shots for attack speed, on Caitlyn, it is better to stick with the higher critical chance and attack speed. However, if you like the AOE effect or just like lightning to come out of your attacks, this is the item for you.

Mercurial Scimitar can replace Guardian Angel if the enemy team is not fed and you are confident you will not die during the fight. The high AD boost, psasive which essentially works at Cleanse and magic resist makes this a viable lategame item on Caitlyn.

Warmog's Armor should be acquired when you feel that your attacks are already painful enough, and the enemy's team comp is more mixed instead of focused on AP or AD. When this happens, you would want to get Warmog's for the raw 1000HP.

Banshee's Veil is a useful item against an AP heavy team. With some extra health, mana, MR and a spell shield, Banshee's Veil is definitely the item to go with against spellcasters.

Consumables

Elixir of Fortitude gives you a nice AD boost late game, when you have some extra gold to waste and gives you a small amount of health. The effects are very insignificant, but there is nothing else better to buy.

Supports

Taric is one of the most popular supports for Caitlyn. With Imbue and Shatter giving Caitlyn sustain, and Dazzle allowing Caitlyn to secure kills when Taric stuns enemies make Taric an overall viable support.

Nunu is another support champ that works with Caitlyn, although not quite as popular as Taric. Blood Boil allows Caitlyn's already strong point: her attack speed to become even stronger, letting her poke quickly and stack her passive faster. Ice Blast, while not as effective as a stun, can still help Caitlyn secure kills. Also, since Blood Boil also gives movement speed, Caitlyn can chase enemies who have been slowed very easily.

Janna is a support champion that synergises well with Caitlyn. Howling Gale's knockup allows Caitlyn to land off some pokes on the enemy, and her ulti, Monsoon, can aid in an escape or a fight.

Blitzcrank, while not the best support if there is no communication between the team, is still a solid support for Caitlyn. Rocket Grab is very effective, but once it is used Blitzcrank becomes rather useless for the cooldown as he has nothing to really help his ADC. However, if there is good communication, Blitzcrank will be able to pull enemies into Caitlyn's Yordle Snap Trap making it either a sure Flash or a sure death.

Thresh is essentially a Blitzcrank with his Death Sentence, but with utilities able to save Caitlyn like Flay and his famous lantern, Dark Passage. Thresh can pull enemies to let the ADC attack, but can also shield the team and allow them to jump straight to him. Definitely a good support.

Nidalee might seem like a weird support for Caitlyn, since she has no pull/stun/slowing abilities, but double-trapping with Bushwhack and Yordle Snap Trap is more effective than it seems, and if Nidalee aims her Javelin Toss well, the enemy will be getting poked to hell with 2 high range attackers against them. Her Primal Surge also helps to sustain Caitlyn a little.

Leona is a very good support for Caitlyn. With Zenith Blade + Shield of Daybreak, she can very easily stun an enemy without much good aim allowing you to quickly put damage out on the enemy. Eclipse provides her with the tankiness needed to survive in the lane and to generally just tank for the team. Her skills, especially her ulti, Solar Flare, can not only help you secure a kill or save you, but can also initiate a fight or turn a fight around if used properly. Definitely one of my favourite Caitlyn supports.

Sona is another one of my favourite supports for Caitlyn. She is a support who not only excels in the early bot lane, with her heal and poke, but also can and will turn the tide of the lategame if used correctly. Her Crescendo helps start a fight, helps stop a fight and helps an initiate. Landing a 5-man Crescendo is disastrous for the enemy team. Remember that with the 3.8 patch, she gets more base health and armor at the expense of a poke damage reduction.

Alistar is, although not a very common support with Caitlyn, still a very powerful one. However, for Alistar, it is best that he has experience and communication as it is abit hard to pull the support off. Generally being tanky, and able to stun and secure kills by kicking backwards, Alistar can be a viable support.

Zilean is one of the most annoying supports I have ever had to deal with in PvP. A very viable support, but I don't recommend it when fighting against pro players (ie. in ranked). In PvP, however, if you are looking for some fun then by all means go ahead. Heightened Learning gives you that slight 8% exp advantage to help you outlevel your enemy adc, Time Bomb is a super annoying harass tool that is pretty much impossible to miss at you just select a target. However, you have to count on the enemy with Time Bomb spreading it to their teammates. Rewind allows 2 Time Bombs to be placed in quick succession, Time Warp enables the escape or chase, and Chronoshift pretty much acts as a Guardian Angel that works on everyone and has a 3 minute cooldown.

Gameplay: Trap Usage

Zoning with Traps (when losing lane to stop enemy from harassing)

Trapping to stop ganks

General Trap Locations

Gameplay: Net Usage

As you can see, I net to escape through the wall, if I am in need of a quick escape from the Dragon pit. Aim your net (blue crosshair) towards the enemy to slow them. Make sure you are bunched up against the wall you are trying to net over, just like Flash usage.

Gameplay: Early Game

For Caitlyn, farming minions is very important. You should try to help leash your jungler, if you have one, as quickly as possible so you don't potentially miss out on CS. The best way to get as much minions (CS) as possible is to last-hit (waiting until the minions have low health before attacking). If you are confident of escaping ganks, they have no jungler or the map is well-warded, you can push the waves by attacking the minions instead of just taking the last hit at low health. Typically, your goal is to beat the enemy team's ADC in CS. However, you need to know the risk and make the decision between retreating or farming, as sometimes an enemy makes it hard to farm.

When the threat for ganks is reduced, like if the enemy jungler is ganking another lane or no lanes are missing, you can push the lane hard. Once the turret starts pounding away at your minions, you not only make it harder for the enemy to farm but also can take a few pokes at the turret.

When you feel that it is possible and the time is right, you can try to poke the enemy with Headshot and Piltover Peacemaker. Lace the area (especially brushes) with Yordle Snap Traps and try to bait an enemy into the trap. Use your 90 Caliber Net to net away from enemy ganks or potential deaths, or to slow a running enemy.

It is important that you constantly move around in this phase of the game. Farm a minion, take a step to the left. Hit a champion, take a step to the right. Farm a minion, take another step to the left. Walking around like this makes it less likely for you to accidentally miss out on CS by hitting too early, and makes it harder for the enemy ADC to hit you.

Your range is the highest in the game; make use of that to harass the enemy. If they are hugging the turret, harass and walk back to avoid aggro. If in lane, harass and walk out of the enemy ADC's range to deal damage but not receive damage.

If you kill both enemies <Level 6, push hard and destroy their turret. If >Level 6 and the time is right, go for Dragon.

The end of early game/start of mid game is defined by the time you kill the Dragon. When you kill both of the enemies, your jungler is nearby or you have many teammates in the area, you can kill the Dragon for bonus universal gold. It turns the tide of the game to snatch the Dragon before the enemies do.

TL;DR?

Last hit and beat the enemy ADC in minion farm, utilise your traps effectively to zone or stop the enemy, utilise your long range to harass the enemy, push the lane hard to stop enemy from farming, dragon or destroy turret when both enemies are dead.

Gameplay: Mid Game

Mid-Game usually begins when dragon has been killed or turrets have started to go down.

If your damage against the enemy is low, try not to focus so much on killing champions. Focus on creeps to gain gold; last hit in your lane, get the Dragon, or kill Jungle Creeps like Wolves. Do whatever you need to stay alive but earn gold at the same time. Fear not; if you do not feed the enemy and farm effectively and quickly to get your Infinity Edge early, you will begin to dominate the game once again.

Map awareness is key if your teammates are losing their lanes. Look for potential ganking opportunities and help your teammates.

TL;DR?

This is the point where Caitlyn is quite weak. If you cannot kill enemy champions, try to ambiently farm but remember to stay alive. Use not only minions, but the jungle to help you farm. Also, look for gank opportunities and help your other lanes.

Gameplay: Late Game

Late game is when it is impossible to stay alive when roaming solo, and dying at this point pays a heavy price (due to long respawn times). Typically during late game everyone is at >Level 14 so they have quite long respawn times. This is the point where teamfights will occur and everyone will be sticking like glue.

You are the main source of damage for your team during teamfights. The most important elements are positioning and knowing who to aim. Aim a tank with Thornmail, and you are doing more harm to yourself than to the enemies. Never aim tanks in a 5v5. Go for the squishy ones. Typically I follow this order: Carries > Support > Offtanks > Tanks
You may be thinking that Last Whisper and Blade of the Ruined King will make it better to aim tanks, but while these items do help with killing tanks it is best to aim those who can dish damage out. It takes quite a number of attacks and time to kill the tank, and in that time damage can be dealt by the enemies easily annihilating your team. But imagine if you take down all their damage sources and only one huge tanky rock without any damage is remaining, your whole team can easily focus him down and he has no way of damaging you hard. However, there is NO absolute rule on who to aim, and in some teamfights aiming the tank is better.

Positioning is also important in teamfights. Caitlyn should never engage teamfights head on. Let the tankier ones engage and go first. Caitlyn should stay behind the team, dealing damage from far away with her high range and kiting the enemies. Remember, Caitlyn should NEVER be the first to die and should constantly be doing damage. This is my definition of good positioning. Stand your ground and land as many attacks until you feel the need to escape.

Also, try to lure them to your base and let the turret get some free damage on them.

Remember, if you see an enemy just by himself during late game, attack him and quickly kill him. But if he manages to get away, DO NOT CHASE HIM. It is most likely a bait and all his teammates are waiting to pounce on you somewhere.

Tl;DR?

Position yourself behind the team, take as little damage as possible during teamfights. Know who to aim during teamfights, don't chase stray enemies, and most importantly, stay alive!

Lane Matchups

Difficulty: Easy

Vayne has a horrible laning phase. Caitlyn has a phenomenal laning phase. Typically you want to bully Vayne until she can't farm and you build up an advantage, and you can utilise your insane harass range for this. Just be careful as she is a very strong lategame champ and can snowball out of control off just a kill or two, or even farm, as opposed to Caitlyn which has a comparatively weaker lategame. Just don't let her snowball.

Difficulty: Easy

Caitlyn is superior for her very high range of 650. However, Quinn has very low range (525) and thus loses out to Caitlyn. Quinn is only a threat if she blinds you in duels, but in a typical teamfight or SP/ADC fight, you should have the higher ground. However, try to avoid 1v1 duel situations as [[Quinn]'s fighting power 1v1 is pretty strong.
Difficulty: Medium
While Caitlyn has more range than Sivir, Caitlyn's high reliance on abilities makes her 150 free mana for Sivir almost everytime. Sivir can block Caitlyn's abilities, including Ace in the Hole for Mana, she can ruthlessly poke essentially twice with her Boomerang Blade and can have a small AOE explosion. Sivir could just step in a Yordle Snap Trap for free mana. However, despite this, Sivir is considered one of the weaker ADCs in the game and thus Caitlyn should be able to harass her if played properly, giving this a medium matchup.
Difficulty: Hard

Tristana is pretty much Caitlyn, but with a much better hyper-carry lategame. In fact, even though in her laning she will have a range of 550, her passive, Draw a Bead gives her +9 range per level. Thus she has higher range than Caitlyn at about Level 12, and eventually going on to have over 700 range at Level 18. She has many better lategame abilities than Caitlyn, and has a nuke-style laning phase and her Rocket Jump is essentially a counter to your 90 Caliber Net. Thus, Tristana is one counter to Caitlyn.
Difficulty: Hard

Draven definitely can damage faster than Caitlyn. His Whirling Death, when used right, can secure kills even better than Ace in the Hole. Despite having less range than Caitlyn, he can harass much better in lane with Spinning Axe and can escape easily with Blood Rush and Stand Aside. Early game, he is essentially a Caitlyn with better skills. Prevent him from farming to dominate him late game.
Difficulty: Hard

Varus, with his already insanely high damage kit, has a comparatively high range (575) that can be used to his advantage. His harass and lategame power is just too strong. I recommend not picking Caitlyn against Varus in draft pick if you have knowledge.

Caitlyn Patch History

Spoiler: Click to view

v3.07
Caitlyn was crowding out a lot of other AD champions with her potent siege capabilities and strong lane trading potential. We wanted to highlight her weakness to extended trades as a sniper by reducing her base attack speed.
Additionally, by removing the accrual of headshot stacks when attacking turrets, it'll be a little more difficult for Caitlyn to perpetually siege towers in early game while zoning out enemies with the threat of a headshot.
Base Attack Speed reduced to 0.625 from 0.668
Attack Speed per level increased to 4% from 3%
Headshot
No longer gains stacks when attacking structures

v1.0.0.112
Ace in the Hole
Projectile speed increased to 3,200 from 2,200
Range increased to 1,600 / 1,900 / 2,200 from 1,400 / 1,800 / 2,200
Initial cast time leading up to the channeling time has been significantly decreased

League of Legends is a team based, real time strategy game set in a mythical world of swords & magic where epic battles decide the fate of mystical nations. Game players take on the role of a Summoner who conjures and controls champions to fight for them at the Institute of War. During game play champions gain experience and items to enhance their skills and abilities. How players develop and play their champions can be the difference between a crushing defeat or a glorious victory!